Friday Night Movie number 94 – Carve Her Name With Pride.

There’s been a bit of a hiatus in the Friday Night Movies recently, mostly because I’ve been too busy with stuff, including ‘Laughing Boy’ related stuff, to pre-watch the movies that I’d like to put up. However the Friday Night Movie feature is back and have I got a humdinger of a movie for you all this week.

‘Carve Her Name With Pride’ is a fictionalised telling of the story of the World War II British agent Violette Szabo who travelled to occupied France in order to assist the French Resistance in their fight against the Germans. It’s probably one of the best classic World War II movies ever made and shows Ms Szabo’s fluency in French brought her to the attention of the British Special Operations Executive that was assisting, with varying degrees of success, the various Resistance movements that were springing up in Europe in order to fight the Nazis.

Her first mission to occupied France, to work with a resistance group in Rouen that had been disrupted by the Germans, was relatively successful and she returned to the UK. Her second mission, to sabotage German communications systems immediately folllowing D-Day, was not so successful and she was captured, interrogated and sent to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp where she was murdered by the Nazis in February 1945. Violette Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her bravery and fortitude in doing her part to fight against the Nazi ideology.

For those interested in spotting people who are famous now but who previously played small parts, look out for Bill Owen playing an combat instructor at SOE training school. Bill Owen later went on to play Compo Simmonite in the long running BBC TV series Last Of The Summer Wine. Also look out for Jack Warner as Violette’s father who ended being more widely known as playing PC George Dixon in Dixon of Dock Green.

I hope you enjoy and are as inspired by this film, as I have been over the years.